11 December 2002

COMMUNITY MEMBERS HELP THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY OVERSEE "LIBRARIES FOR ALL" BUILDING PROGRAM

Community volunteers serve on the Citizen Implementation Review Panel (CIRP) to provide citizen oversight of The Seattle Public Library's "Libraries for All" (LFA) building program.

"We are the eyes and ears of the community," said Joseph E. Pasquarella Smith, panel chairman. "Our diverse group represents a broad cross-section of Seattle. Our members regularly attend community meetings throughout the city to both talk about the building program and to listen to comments from others."

The Seattle City Council and The Seattle Public Library board of trustees established CIRP after voters passed the $196.4 million LFA bond measure in 1998. The plan calls for improving or replacing all 22 branches, building five new branches and building a new Central Library.

The 15 CIRP members -- Seattle residents from neighborhoods throughout the city -- meet monthly to monitor and provide feedback to the Library Board on implementation of the LFA program. Each branch library has a designated CIRP steward who pays attention to the needs of that branch.

CIRP volunteers are appointed by the Library Board and the City Neighborhood Council and are confirmed by the City Council. At present there are three vacancies on the panel. For information about applying for membership, please call Ingrid Jennings, LFA administrative assistant, at 206-386-4164.

The CIRP members are:

Chairman Joseph E. Pasquarella Smith of South Park. Smith is a partner in a home-restoration and real estate service company. He also serves as treasurer of the South Park Area Redevelopment Committee (SPARC). He is a founder of the South Park Marra Farm Coalition, is an officer of the Federation of Gay Games Inc. and a 10-year member of the board of Team Seattle. Steward: Central Library, South Park, Southwest and West Seattle branches.
Vice chairwoman Ellen Judson of Montlake. Judson works at MulvannyG2 Architecture in Bellevue. She has served as a trustee of the Montlake Community Club, and on numerous community-related committees in Seattle and elsewhere. Acting as chairwoman of the liaison committee for siting the new Montlake Branch initiated her into the exciting world of Libraries for All. Her extensive background in architecture and planning includes research and teaching positions at the University of Washington's Department of Architecture. Steward: Montlake, Northgate and University branches.
Mary Henry of Madison Park. Henry is a retired educator and school librarian. She worked for 26 years in the Seattle Public School District and 19 years at South Shore Middle School. She serves on the executive board of the Association of King County Historical Organizations and the Seattle Education Foundation. Henry is editor of the Black Heritage Society's newsletter, is an African American contributing editor to HistoryLink, and is an archivist for the Church of the Epiphany. She is a past member of the King County Cultural Arts and Education Committee and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and is an alumna member of the Seattle chapter of The Links Inc. Steward: Columbia, Douglass-Truth and Madrona-Sally Goldmark branches.
Amy Kaminishi of Beacon Hill. Kaminishi is an accountant with Washington Mutual Bank, as well as a founding member and treasurer of the Friends of the Beacon Hill Branch of The Seattle Public Library. She is a member of the American Society of Women Accountants, and she received the Neighborhood Friend of the Year Award in November 1998. Steward: Beacon Hill Branch.
Suzanne Kotz of Capitol Hill. Kotz is an independent editor, writer, and project manager who specializes in fine art topics for print and multimedia publishers. Her projects have included: a history of the Pilchuck Glass School; a CD-ROM on Leonardo da Vinci; a biography of Vincent van Gogh for the Web site of the Amsterdam-based Van Gogh Museum; a selected catalog of the rare book holdings of the Elisabeth Miller Horticultural Library in Seattle; and numerous exhibition catalogs in all areas of art for museums around the country. Her professional life has revolved around books and public service, in both library and museum settings. She has an extensive background in writing and editing and holds a master's degree in library science. Kotz also is a board member of the Northwest Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Steward: Capitol Hill, Fremont and Montlake branches.
Vivian McLean of West Seattle. McLean is a longtime peace activist and a member of the board of directors of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association. She also has been a member of the Delridge District Council, the Seattle Parks Open Space Advisory Committee and has served as president of both the Seattle Education Association Department of Paraprofessionals and the Seattle Community Council Federation. McLean has tutored children at Cooper Elementary School for 18 years. Steward: Delridge and High Point branches.
Monica Moravec of Queen Anne. Moravec is a senior project manager with KPFF Consulting Engineers, a civil and structural engineering firm in downtown Seattle. Moravec specializes in planning and design of public municipal facilities. She has been an active member of Program for Early Parenting Support (PEPS), Friends of the Queen Anne Branch, and has served as a mentor for female engineering students at the University of Washington. Steward: Central Library, Capitol Hill, and Queen Anne branches.
Cher Ravagni of First Hill. Ravagni is a librarian at The Seattle Public Library in the Business, Government, Language Study & Social Sciences Department. She received her master's degree in library science from the University of Washington in 1973. She is a member of the American Library Association (ALA) and the Washington Library Association (WLA), and chairs the Intellectual Freedom Committee for the WLA. As a member of AFSCME Local 2083, Seattle Public Library Employees, Ravagni is the union's representative to the panel. Steward: Central Library.
Dennis Ross of West Seattle. Ross is president of the Admiral Community Council and served as chairman of the Southwest District Council in 1998 and 2000. He is the Southwest District Council delegate to the City Neighborhood Council (CNC), and in 1999 served as CNC vice chairman. Ross works in the warehouse division of Fittings Inc. in Seattle. Steward: High Point, Southwest and West Seattle branches.
David Traylor of Greenwood. Traylor is a registered landscape architect and a certified urban planner (AICP). He also is a ceramic artist whose work is shown both locally and nationally. Currently, he is on the board of directors of Operation Nightwatch, an agency providing emergency services to the homeless, and the Phinney Neighborhood Association. Steward: Ballard, Greenwood and Northgate branches.
Emily Wheeler of the Central District. Wheeler works for S.M. Stemper Architects of Seattle and has completed several independent projects in residential design and renovations. She has a master's degree in architecture from the University of Washington, where her thesis focused on the relationship among Seattle neighborhoods, diagonal streets and the urban grid. Steward: International District, Lake City, Rainier Beach and South Park branches.
Shirley Wilcox of Mount Baker. Now retired, Shirley Wilcox taught kindergarten for 20 years in the Seattle Public Schools. Wilcox was a founding board member of Neighborhood House Inc. and of the Central Area Mental Health Center. She also has served on the boards of United Way of King County and Catholic Community Services. In 1965, she chaired the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority-sponsored African-American Collection at the Douglass-Truth Branch. Steward: Beacon Hill, Columbia and Douglass-Truth branches.

(For more information or to arrange an interview with a member of CIRP, call Caroline Young Ullmann, Library communications assistant, 206-615-1627.)

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Content modified: 12 December 2002

12/30/2005